ly funny , but at the same time , you just know that that would be exactly the way it happens ,” she sighs . Indeed . Most assuredly .
This is perhaps why Hale looks so whoforgot-to-brew-me-my-coffee-this-morning fanged and ferocious in the “ Back From the Dead ” cover art . Or perhaps it ’ s dusk , and her coffin has just creaked open with no waiting chalice of Lady Bathory virgin ’ s blood waiting on the nightstand . Either way , make no mistake — she is ** pissed off **. And the record wastes no time in jumping right for the jugular in the buzz-sawing opening title track , wherein Hale convincingly snarls , “ Save your prayers , don ’ t bless my bones / Don ’ t waste my name for my headstone … I ’ m back from the dead , alive / Hell couldn ’ t hold me .” Halestorm hit on a winning compositional formula back in 2013 when its signature anthem , “ Love Bites ( So Do I )” It won a Grammy for Best Hard Rock / Metal Performance , and the group has maintained that perfect rock / metal equilibrium ever since until now , five albums in , it ’ s positively perfected it . Every number here is a rousing singalong , made even more memorable via the roof-rattling rasp of Hale ’ s singing voice . You can ’ t help but believe her as she touches on The Crucible-era witches (“ Strange Girl ”), her faithful fan following (“ The Steeple ”), and their shared , almost sacred devil-horn-fistsignifying ritual in the album ( and likely concert ) coda , the piano ballad “ Raise Your Horns .” In between , she caroms through “ Brightside : (“ I can ’ t look on the bright side of life / Because it only gets darker ,” she laments ), “ Terrible Things ” (“ I see a sickness in a world on its knees ”), an ominous “ Psycho Crazy ” (“ If you want crazy / I ’ ll give you psycho ,” she cautions ), and her case-summarizing “ My Redemption ,” in which she coldly confesses , “ I lost my faith and found release … I took back my life in an ocean of tears .” If Jonah Hill stumbles across his Burgess-Meredeth /** Twilight Zone dystopian wanderings , you reckon “ Back From the Dead ” would provide the perfect don ’ t-giveup- ** just-yet soundtrack for this cowboy ’ s last terrestrial roundup . And of course , the LP comes in a special colored-vinyl edition described as ‘ Coke bottle clear ” — an Immovable Object-level paradox in itself .
Hale , in the cathartic process , has now returned to being the same old irrepressible , Irresistible Force she always was , pre-pandemic . During the lockdown , she and Halestorm helped launch # RoadieStrong , a fundraiser for Live Nation ’ s show-workeraiding arm Crew Nation . Currently , she ’ s juggling so many diverse projects she can barely keep track of them all . She recently : Sang on violinist Lindsey Stirling ’ s “ Shatter Me ”; provided the vocals for Corey Taylor , Scott Ian , and Dave Lombardo ’ s theme for the Netflix movie Thunder Force ; hosted AXS TV ’ s “ A Year in Music ”; and will anchor a novel new TV singing competition called No Cover , which insists on only original material from its contestants . After the suicide of Huntress frontwoman Jill Janus , she also launched the mental-health-awareness-stressing # RaiseYour Horns , and her band will soon break through into graphic novel format via ** Hyde Manor , a spooky haunted-mansion tale written by twins Brittany and Brianna Winner , and sketched by artist Sara Scala . Hale — whose constantly-evolving mane is blonde now , no longer her traditional raven black — can barely believe how wicked-cool she looks in comic form . Or , as Jessica Rabbit once put it , “ I ’ m not bad . I ’ m just drawn that way .”
“ A graphic novel , man ! It ’ s awesome , and I love seeing myself as a cartoon character ,” enthuses the spiritualism fan , who has attended seances , visited spectral sites , and even performed in a haunted venue where a ghost actually put on an inexplicable light show every night after closing . “ It ’ s something that we ’ ve always wanted to do — we ’ ve actually wanted to do it for years . And it just so happened that during the lockdown , we were meeting up with all the right people , and it was just time to do it .”
What conclusion has Hale come to , now that she ’ s managed to nimbly skirt that old Immovable Object ? She thinks about it for a minute , then offers some optimism . “ I think that there still is a shred of hope , and I do believe that people are inherently good ,” she swears . “ And there are obviously some people we ’ re experiencing right now that definitely don ’ t have any heart or soul . But there is power in putting out that love and that positivity and trying to fight all the hate-forhate ’ s sake , petty bullshit that ’ s going on . There are still people that want to stand up and fight and never give in !”
Appearing June 18 at at Ribfest , Wheaton june 2022 illinoisentertainer . com 23